The Duke's Masked Wife

"I don't care," Edgar replied, not even the slightest bit hurt by her words. It was only fair she didn't like him when he didn't like her.

"Mother," Melody said, trying to understand what their mother intended to do by picking a fight with Edgar. This would only put Alessandra in an awkward position.

"I want the best for my daughter-"

"That was hard to tell with you staying away from how many years?" Edgar replied. She missed the mark on wanting the best for Alessandra.

Melanie glared at Edgar over the unwarranted jab. "You show up and all of a sudden the peace around us is gone."

"He did not start this fight. It wasn't necessary for you to state now that you do not like him.  I don't want either side to fight right now," Alessandra said, looking back and forth between husband and mother to try to make them stop.

Melanie looked to her right at Claire who had not come to her defense like always. "I heard his response when I said I wanted to become a grandmother."

"Well, it is odd for you to want to become a grandmother when I do not view you as my mother yet. What will it take for us to move on from this? Should we start ordering food?" Alessandra looked at Alfred and Sally to ask the servers to come inside.

"If anything you should have taken from me, it is to stay away from nobles. Why did you marry a man with a title after what you witnessed your father be?" Melanie asked, a tad disappointed in Alessandra's choice. Alessandra would always have that insufferable attention on her because of her title.

For a moment, Alessandra thought she misheard her mother. "Edgar is nothing like my father. Haven't you heard from the court that Edgar saved me from my father? If we would have moved on like I wanted to, you would have enjoyed food with us and seen why I fell in love with Edgar. There is no hope for us," Alessandra muttered. She always knew this from their first meeting, but she could admit it today.

"We can have a thousand sit-downs and I still would not open my arms to you. I don't know what to make of you. You are defensive as if you are the victim here. You don't take into account my feelings and your behavior has been somewhat childish. I truly do not know what to make of you," Alessandra said, staring at her mother who was so confusing.

"If you would open your heart a little bit, you would understand me," Melanie replied.

"Honestly, it feels like you believe the story of you not being in love with my father is enough for me to understand and forgive you. I have opened my heart a little or I would not be here. I am here because I don't want to look back and regret not trying. Answer me honestly. If the court did not force you to come back, would you have returned to Lockwood after learning I was mistreated?" Alessandra asked.

"Yes, I would have. How could I stay away after learning my daughter was hurt all these years? I am not the monster you paint me to be in your head, Alessandra. As your mother, I do care for you," Melanie said, reaching out to the other side of the table to hold Alessandra's hands.

Alessandra slid her hand back away from her mother's touch. "I truly want to believe you, but I do not. If you stayed away while knowing where I lived all these years, why should you care now? I know there's a part of you that loves me, but you don't want to be here. At least we saw each other once more. It is best that we go back to not seeing each other. My questions were answered and now I don't have to wonder about you."

"Alessandra, I did not come all the way here for us to end like this. I can't," Melanie paused as she would be revealing too much. Her husband would not speak to her if he were to learn she had not fixed her relationship with Alessandra.

Truthfully, Melanie wanted nothing to do with anything that reminded her of Desmond, and the life before she ran away. Life was toying with her for making Alessandra take after her when it came to looks. She was looking at herself when she faced Alessandra. There was hardly a hint of Desmond in Alessandra's features but it didn't change the fact that Alessandra reminded her of her marriage to Desmond.

Melanie did wish she did not have to come back to this awful town. She did not want her new family to know about the one she had tried hard to forget. Life was perfect up until this point. No one would ever be able to understand it unless they walked in her shoes.

"We are not leaving on a bad note. At least, I am not. I am satisfied with the short time we spoke to each other. You and I will never have a mother-daughter relationship. I feel uncomfortable around you and many of the things you say rub me the wrong way. If your return was earlier, I would have welcomed you back, but I am at a point where I won't forgive easily, and I want to move on with my life without certain people in it," Alessandra said, taking a deep breath afterwards as she let go of thoughts about her mother.

It was strange for Alessandra. She could feel bad and forgive Priscilla who almost got Alfred killed, but her heart could not bring itself to be closer to her mother. Perhaps she needed time. Perhaps Melanie needed to stop acting like everything was supposed to fall into place at her whim.

"I still want to get to know my sisters," Alessandra clarified. "That is if they want to."

"I do," Melody answered. Alessandra not wanting to be around their mother did not mean it was the end of getting to know her sister. She could one day be the bridge to mend the broken relationship.

"I do too," Claire raised her hand, not looking in Alessandra's direction. She felt ashamed of her actions.

"Then we should plan a day for just the three of us to meet. I will take care of it. It will be awkward if I continue to stay so I will take my leave, but please stay and enjoy the food. It will be our treat," Alessandra said, standing up with Edgar's help. She knew he was more than happy to leave.

"Mother. Fight for her to stay," Melody whispered to her mother. This was the time for their mother to be declaring to Alessandra how much she wanted to work on their relationship. Why was she sitting so quietly while Alessandra was leaving? "Do you not care?" Melody accidentally asked out loud. "Why did we travel all this way? So you can avoid being imprisoned?"

"Melody, watch your tone with me and the words that leave your mouth," Melanie said as Melody must have lost her mind to speak like this.

"Why are you letting her leave? You said you wanted to be her mother again. Make her stay!" Melody exclaimed, frustrated with the fact their mother did not seem to care about her daughter walking away.